Illumination devices have long been known in the art to enhance the visibility of bicycles or other wheeled vehicles in limited lighting conditions. For instance, reflectors are commonly mounted to bicycle frames and to the spokes of bicycle wheels which cause the headlights of motor vehicles to reflect therefrom and enhance the visibility of the bicycle. In fact, reflectors and other visibility enhancement devices are required by many states and local governments for bicycles to be operated after dusk. Reflectors suffer from the draw back that they do not provide any visibility enhancement unless another light, such as a headlight, is shining upon the reflectors on the bicycle. Headlights and other lighting devices are known which point in a direction in which the cyclist is traveling, some of which are powered by an on board electrical power supply and others of which are powered by the human rider through the pedal action of the bicycle. However, these devices only provide visibility enhancement when the bicycle is viewed from the front. Most bicycle accidents occur when vehicles strike the bicycle from the side.
A third class of bicycle visibility enhancement devices are lights which are actually illuminated, either by an electrical power supply or from the human's power generated from the pedals, and which either flash or provide some sort of continuous light. While these devices are generally superior to reflectors and headlights, these devices suffer from numerous drawbacks. The illumination systems either provide an unacceptably low level of visibility enhancement or they require too much power such that either performance of the bicycle is significantly degraded or inconveniently large electrical power supplies, such as batteries, are required to power the system for a reasonable length of time. Also, the weight distribution of these devices is not symmetrical upon the wheels, further degrading the performance of the bicycles mounted with such prior art visibility enhancement systems.
Accordingly, a need exists for a bicycle visibility enhancement device which can attach securely to wheels of the bicycle without significantly altering a balance and rotational inertia of the bicycle wheels, and which requires a low level of electrical power; and yet provides a high level of illumination to enhance the safety with which the bicycle can be operated.